The Earth has been around for roughly 4.5 billion years, but humans have only existed for 300,000 of those years (0.007% of the planet’s history.) Our time here is so minuscule in the grand scheme of things, yet our species has developed enough to spend our current time diving into the rich history of things that came millions of years before us. Being a student relatively new to the geology curriculum, I was extremely engaged in learning how ancient and modern geology, ecology, and paleontology intertwine to provide us a better understanding of the Earth’s deep past.

Having a basis of Intro to Geology, it’s interesting to see how the information I learned in a classroom has physical geologic evidence in the clearly visible outcrops of Wyoming, such as crossbedding and anticlines. Particularly, the Western Interior Seaway activity helped me visualize how the different types of rock and the fossils within them correlate to the state of that particular landscape in ancient times. Actively being in the field searching for belemnite, shark teeth, ammonite, bi-valve, fish scale, and fish bone fossils put into perspective that there is plenty of evidence that nektic and benthic life was present. From this activity, I learned the Mowry and Frontier Formations occurred during a time with shallow seas and a warm water temperature due to the main source of marine water being high salinity oceans. On the other hand, the Wall Creek and Niobrara Formations took place when the water depth was rather high with colder temperatures due to glacial melting.  These correlations between glacial melting, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, volcanoes, and more can be used to help us make assumptions about the various stages that have happened and could happen in the earth system.

On the paleontological side of things, finding dinosaur bones in the field indicates that that particular formation was able to support complex life forms at one point in time. The most abundant presence of fossils is in the Morrison Formation which is mainly comprised of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone in a variety of colors that are indicative of iron levels. Along with aiding us to understand the events that have taken place in the planet’s past, the dinosaur fossils found can also be used to research the evolution of million-year-old species that once walked the Earth.

Overall, this entire experience has been extraordinarily eye-opening. Before this trip, I would’ve never imagined to be walking along some rocks and encountering so many dinosaur bone fossils that the encounter would lose its excitement. Now, I not only know how to look for fossils and analyze the types of rocks present, but I also know the geologic and paleontological evidence behind the reasoning for their presence. Used together, these elements allow us to learn about the patterns the Earth has undergone in the past and can help us predict future cyclical events.